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REVIEW: GHOSTBUSTERS (2016)

The Ghostbusters are back, or should I say rebooted, in this ghoulish comedy from Paul Feig.

Ghostbusters is pretty straight forward compared to the last two original films, starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, and Harold Ramis. However, this time the Ghostbusters are women, and this time, it’s as if the original Ghostbusters don’t exist. But don’t let that deceive you. These four women, who try to scientifically prove paranormal activity, find themselves trying to prevent a paranormal apocalypse in New York.

Now, the hate for this movie was unbelievable. After the first trailer was released, it soon became the most disliked video in YouTube history. Director, Paul Feig, even said that the reason for all the hate was because the people who hate this movie are misogynists. Now, I don’t like to take any political sides, if you can call it that, but I must say that liking or not like a movie because of reasons of gender or race is ridiculous. And I also don’t like people saying that if I don’t like something, it’s because I’m a “fill in blank”. But to be honest, Ghostbusters was enjoyable, not an instant classic, but enjoyable.

There are many times where I was laughing out loud in the theatre. These four women, Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon, all work so well with each other. I knew going into this film that McCarthy and Wiig would be decently funny. But as for Jones and McKinnon, I was a little skeptical. But in the end, they were decent as well. Well, McKinnon was off and on. But I blame that on the script.

But as the ladies were funny, I believe that the topic of Feminism was a little over bearing. The constant message of the men all being assholes in some way or another, really didn’t add anything to the storyline. It became a bit of a burden. Speaking of storyline, there isn’t much “meat” to this script. The first 45 minutes of the film is really just full of jokes, with a little bit of backstory. But the film doesn’t start to develop until halfway into the film.

I will reiterate that Ghostbusters was an enjoyable film. It’s pure fun, but really nothing more. This isn’t the actresses’ best work when compared to movies such as Bridesmaids or Spy. However, it isn’t their worst. I’m talking about you, Tammy. If you can get past the overwhelming message of feminism, and some jokes that don’t really land, it will be a fun film to watch. It was funny to see all the original actors of the film have cameos. This isn’t an instant classic, but dare I say that this Ghostbusters reboot is better than Ghostbusters 2.